Thanks to all who made city parade a success

The 2013 annual Portsmouth Illuminated Holiday Parade on Saturday, Dec. 7, was a great success, and approximately 10,000 participants and spectators joined the festivities. This type of event cannot be executed without the hard work of many people and I would like to take a moment to recognize some of those individuals and groups.

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seacoastonline.com

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Posted Dec. 20, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Posted Dec. 20, 2013 at 2:00 AM

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Dec. 18 — To the Editor:

The 2013 annual Portsmouth Illuminated Holiday Parade on Saturday, Dec. 7, was a great success, and approximately 10,000 participants and spectators joined the festivities. This type of event cannot be executed without the hard work of many people and I would like to take a moment to recognize some of those individuals and groups.

First, I would like to thank all the parade units, without their participation, there would not be a parade. There were 72 units in the parade procession representing 56 groups. Some groups won trophies for their efforts including Portsmouth Athenaeum for Best Non-Profit Entry; Kiwanis for Best Community Entry; Service Credit Union for Best Commercial Entry; Portsmouth Youth Cheerleading for Best Use of Illumination; and Runnymede Farm received top honors with the Mayor's Award.

In addition, I would like to thank local residents Jack and Roxy Hartman for donating this year's 40-foot-tall white spruce for the downtown Christmas tree in Market Square. As well as Badger Rand Company Inc., located in Dover, for donating its crane service for the third consecutive year.

Thank you to the Portsmouth Middle School Band for playing wonderful holiday music, under the direction of Courtney Randall and Katelyn Kern, to entertain the crowds before the tree-lighting ceremony and parade.

I also would like to applaud the Portsmouth High School student group, Friends of Rachel, organized by Deb Heath-Barlow, for their energy and enthusiasm in collecting food donations along the parade route to support three of Portsmouth's food pantries, Operation Blessing, Seacoast Family Food Pantry and the Salvation Army. Donned in their PHS Santa hats, they did a great job representing the high school and our community.

The Holiday Parade is very fortunate that so many private businesses also support the event year after year. Enormous thanks goes to National Wrecker Service for donating the use of a flatbed trailer for the parade reviewing stand in Market Square; Regal Limousine of North Hampton for transporting the grand marshals in style; Allegra Printing for another festive banner to honor the grand marshals; King's Real Estate for use of their space to line up floats around Plaza 800; and to COAST for making its trolley and staff available to the City Council and New Hampshire state representatives in the parade.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the city's many departments and staff for their hard work and excellent teamwork in producing this holiday tradition in Portsmouth — the city manager's office, the city's recreation, public works, parking, police and fire departments.

For those of you who would like to enjoy the parade again, visit www.cityofportsmouth.com and click on the Mayor's page. It will also be rebroadcast on Channel 22 periodically.